Having lived just one state east from all the hoopla during the Jackson trial, we were subjected to a plethora of media glitz locally, and the whole scene was shoved in front of us constantly by all the media as being The Most Important Event of the Decade. Well, I could hardly describe it as having that much magnitude in my life, but then I am not a Michael Jackson fan, either.
I agree that the media seriously overplayed the whole trial, the events leading up to it and during ... when the trial was over, the media blitz vanished into thin air ... so part of the act of discrediting Michale Jackson was the fault of the media.
The other part of the fiasco was whenever Michael moved about ... no less than 5 seriously gas guzzling SUV's were in his entourage at any time, special considerations like moving people out of a hospital area so he could have the room to himself. Sorry, nobody, celebrity or not, deserves that kind of treatment. When he got sick (coughed twice) he was RUSHED to the hospital in his pajamas ... c'mon, when was the last time you or I even distantly thought of going to the emergency room when we coughed? Those incidents were pure publicity stunts, and nothing more, at least imho. There were more than one occassion when he was almost in contempt of court for not showing up on time, but the judge "decided" not to throw the book at him. Would you or I have had that same treatment by the court? No way!! Sorry, the fact that someone is a celebrity doesn't excuse them from the laws - he puts his pants on just like I do, one leg at a time.
Was Michael Jackson treated fairly by the media during this whole process? I say yes, and no. It wasn't the media who dangled their own son over an elevated balcony in public - Some of the problems were brought on by Michael himself. I agree that the media, just to make a story, will say just about anything about anybody in order to make the headlines, but that balcony incident was totally uncalled for. Ok, he later admitted that it was a dumb thing to do, but the fact remains that it shouldn't have been done at all - that is child endangerment and should have resulted in some serious charges, which of course never happened because he is a celebrity ... (?). Again, if you or I had done that, our child would have been removed from our custody and we would have been arrested. The rules keep changing based on how well someone is known. That's not equal justice, imho.
The media completely blew everything way out of proportion ... typical media for this day and age. I think they need to be more in tune with peoples feelings and stop making assumptions based on little evidence. I always liked the phrase on the old TV show, Dragnet, with Jack Webb and Harry Morgan when Officer Joe Friday would say "Just the facts Ma'am, just the facts!"
Michael being the greatest performer of all time? Depends on a persons likes or dislikes in the musical world. I rank some pretty darn great organists worlds ahead of Michael Jackson ... lots of them 'danced' on the pedalboards, wore shiny sparkly suits, were interactive with audiences, AND attracted thousands of concert goers. So, it's all in ones perspective who is the greatest performer. That's my opinion, for what it's worth.